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June 11, 2014 10:23 AM CDTJune 12, 2014 01:57 PM CDTCheerleading to have its shot to become part of UIL in 2015-16 school year

Cheerleading to have its shot to become part of UIL in 2015-16 school year

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Stewart F. House/Special Contributor

While games are won and lost on the field, tons of action and game-changing decisions are made on the sidelines. We look back at 10 stories and moments that highlight the biggest players and events of the 2013 calendar year.

ROUND ROCK — Cheerleading will finally get its tryout from the University Interscholastic League.

After a hearty debate and a failed first vote, the UIL Legislative Council approved a one-year pilot program to hold a league-sanctioned cheerleading competition for the 2015-16 school year.

Crowning state champions in each of the state’s six classifications, the “Game Day Cheer” competition will be the first cheerleading event in the league’s history.

“As big as cheerleading is in Texas, I feel like a lot of people will gravitate to this,” Highland Park cheerleading coach Jason McMahan said. “Not only because it’s new, but also because it gives them an opportunity to showcase their athletes and their abilities vs. just their home crowd seeing them on the sidelines.”

Instead of the twisting flips and high-flying aerials found in many competitive cheerleading competitions, “Game Day Cheer” will showcase a cheerleading squad’s sideline and pep rally routines.

Nationally, 32 states held competitions for girls’ “competitive spirit squads” in 2012-13, according to a National Federation of State High School Associations survey.

UIL executive director Charles Breithaupt said that it was time for the league to give a cheerleading a shot.

“I just think you have an activity that’s already ingrained in the school,” Breithaupt said. “You already have participants, already have a sponsor. It’s a little bit easier to incorporate than other activities.”

Passage of the proposal wasn’t easy.

After squeaking through the UIL’s Standing Committee on Policy on Tuesday, the concept faced similar skepticism and criticism from many on the full council on Wednesday.

Normally, the league moves at a glacial level, with a proposal waiting six months between approval from a subcommittee to a final vote. The cheerleading concept, however, was fast-tracked — with league staff asking for its approval less than a day after moving out of committee, in an attempt to get the event launched for the upcoming school year.

Many of the 32-member council didn’t like the speed of that process, with only seven members — including Duncanville ISD Superintendent Alfred Ray and Katy ISD’s Alton Frailey — initially voting in favor of the pilot program.

“The main reason that I can support this is that we can keep our kids involved and we can keep them safe,” said Frailey, the former DeSoto superintendent.

Richardson ISD Superintendent Kay Waggoner originally voted against the proposal, concerned with the readiness of districts to pay for additional expenses and provide oversight to another activity.

Only when implementation of the pilot was pushed back to the 2015-16 school year did the program gain approval.

“I think the folks around this table were concerned on how it would affect their budget on such short notice, and how it might affect their student body because of other activities that they’ve signed up for,” Breithaupt said. “To give more detail as we move forward, so that they can share it with people they represent, I think that’s fair.”

The big question now is how many schools will participate, and whether the lack of any qualifying rounds will create a logistical nightmare for the league, its schools and their cheer squads. On Tuesday, Breithaupt estimated that as many as 700 teams (out of about 1,400 UIL members) might participate in the four-day event, tentatively scheduled for January in San Antonio.

A January event might conflict with existing competitive cheer competitions, according to outgoing Grapevine High School cheer coach Ashley Varela. Such a conflict could make for a conundrum for cheer coaches: whether to forgo a more gymnastic event for a state title.

“At our school, they are very into the skill part of it,” said Varela, who took Grapevine to the 2011 National Cheerleaders Association title. “They are very good, and they like to be good. If you lost that, I’m assuming you’d lose a large portion [of the team.]”

Varela was also curious how UIL policy would change the culture of cheerleading, such as putting time restrictions on practices.

“As far as the competition, it will probably be great once they get the kinks worked out,” Varela said.

“But it’s not as cut and dried as, for example, basketball. You don’t just show up and practice; there’s a lot more that goes along with it.”

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